Wheel bolts rust

[markjay]

In 2008, when the car was two years old and still under warranty, the wheel bolts became very rusty. When I changed the tyres, I also realised that the hubs had copious amount of rust on them.

I took the car to the MB dealer, they said that this was only surface rust and as such a non-issue. I questioned whether a 2-years old car should have any rust at all, surface or otherwise - they claimed that it was the result of using corrosive wheel cleaner detergents.

This did not add up - I had quite a few cars, and never seen a wheel bolt rust, or a hub rust... in fact the hubs were always spotless shiny metal whenever I took the wheels off, even on cars much older than 2 years.

I had a look round the dealer's car park, and pointed out to them that quite a few cars there had rusty wheel bolts - and when later looking at other cars on the road, it seems to be very common on Mercs, while very few other cars have this problem.

The dealer agreed to replace the wheel bolts (including a new locking bolt set), as this was an 'aesthetic' issue, but refused to do anything about the hubs themselves, and they were not visible when the wheels were on.

Now, two years later, the new wheel bolts are starting to rust again... I do wash the car at 'hand car wash' places, so I don't know what they use for wheel cleaner, but I have been washing my cars like that for the last 15 years and never had a problem till I got the Merc...

My 2006 car should be 'safe' as it was manufactured after the 'rusty' period of early 2000. I think this is simply a manufacturing defect. Has anyone else had the same problem?

 

[markjay]

This is what the bolts looked like in 2008, before the dealer replaced them:

 

[blondebier]

I agree. That is really poor. If your dealer is no help I'd write to MB customer care.

 

[markjay]

This is what the bolts looked like in 2008, before the dealer replaced them:

..on ALL four wheels, I might add.

 

[w124coupe]

Same here, 2 sets, 2 years to rusty each time. Same **** about using the wrong wheel cleaner (I use Meguiars non-acidic which is the Merc brand OEM...).


My W124 project car has the originals (well, I know the locking ones are original as I have the box with the dealer "compliments" card - it was a sale-time freebie). They are not rusty at all....

 

[CW2608]

From what I can see this is common across all Mercedes, just bought aftermarket bolts for my SLK that are treated and apparently will not rust. Also had all the AMG wheels refurbished in anthracite instead of stock silver, looks really nice.

 

[markjay]

From what I can see this is common across all Mercedes, just bought aftermarket bolts for my SLK that are treated and apparently will not rust. Also had all the AMG wheels refurbished in anthracite instead of stock silver, looks really nice.

Apparently a set of original bolts from MB is about £50, and the locking ones a further £50 - so around £100 all in all. Where did you get the after-market ones?

 

[corned]

Mine are all well rusty too.

I history of Jaguars eek in my past, and not one smear of rust on any wheel bolt ever.

Clearly Mercedes make theirs from very cheap and nasty monkey metal. There can be no other explanation.

 

[WDB124066]

Mine are all well rusty too.


Clearly Mercedes make theirs from very cheap and nasty monkey metal. There can be no other explanation.

Be careful what you say on here. You leave yourself wide open.....

I do not think MB would dream of using anything that they thought to be dangerous. Light surface rust does not in any way reflect what the quality of the bolting material is with respect to strength or longevity. They are not dangerous, I am sure of that.

Why not get some Genuine MB Stainless Steel Capped Bolts as seen on 124's if you are concerned. Problem solved! Maybe you could twist the arm of your local Dealer to supply them FOC......

 

[corned]

I wouldn't dream of suggesting that they might be dangerous in any way.

However. Mercedes, if they are to persist as a quality and premium manufacturer cannot have cosmetic issues, just the same as they can't have mechanical or structural issues.

I am reminded of the saying "Do not spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth o' tar".

The appearance of rust, whether it be structural or cosmetic, does not look 'premium' or 'quality'.

 

[sym]

This is indeed an issue .. and on the car I have just bought (W204 - less than 2 yrs old) I made the dealer replace all of the wheel bolts first, as the state of them was appalling ! They didn't seem at all put out by this request - seems like they are used to people complaining! I have never seen it on any other manufacturers bolts either. The AMG bolts supplied with AMG wheels I think have the stainless steel cap on them - as I bought a new set of these a few cars ago .. or have a look on eBay - there are often sets of them available. I think the fact that they are not fitted to all cars as standard any more is just down to cost cutting !

S.

 

[CW2608]

Apparently a set of original bolts from MB is about £50, and the locking ones a further £50 - so around £100 all in all. Where did you get the after-market ones?

I was Reccomended to use alloywheelsdirect.net very good site, very prompt service. Bolts are a flat alloy not shiny chrome but look fine.

 

[markjay]

This is indeed an issue .. and on the car I have just bought (W204 - less than 2 yrs old) I made the dealer replace all of the wheel bolts first, as the state of them was appalling ! They didn't seem at all put out by this request - seems like they are used to people complaining! I have never seen it on any other manufacturers bolts either. The AMG bolts supplied with AMG wheels I think have the stainless steel cap on them - as I bought a new set of these a few cars ago .. or have a look on eBay - there are often sets of them available. I think the fact that they are not fitted to all cars as standard any more is just down to cost cutting !

S.

I totally agree with the above.

1. This seems to be a unique problem to MB - have a look around, no other car suffers from this...

2. Oddly this seems to be a problem for many years now - from the early W203 to late W204...

3. It is very strange that MB has done nothing about this problem. Surely it cost them money to have all those bolts replaced under warranty?

4. The rust on the bolts in unsightly, and that's more than enough. In the same way you would not accept a new car with faded paint even if it is only a 'cosmetic' issue...

5. The rust on the hubs, although not visible from the outside, is a worry. In fact, the tyre fitter could not get road wheels off - and that was on a two-years old car! He used a heavy rubber mallet and worked quite hard at that. I wonder what would have happened if I deeded to change the wheel at the roadside? To his credit, he did use a wire brush to clean it as best he could, and them applied copious amounts of copper grease.

6. I can see MB telling me at some point of time down the line in future servicing that the hubs are very badly rusted and need replacing at a cost of £££££££.....

7. On another note - the brake callipers look corroded and very 'rough' - again, this is only skin-deep, but unsightly and not something you'd expect on a 'prestige' car - even an entry-level one...

 

[markjay]

This is what the wheel bolts look like now - two years after being replaced by MB - although only some have redeveloped rust, not all:

 

[markjay]

It is clearly not as bad as it was before, and quick clean with a wire brush and a touch of paint will sort it for now - but I am astonished that MB could not buy the bolts from a supplier that uses better paint or treatment - after all these years - especially considering that the bolts are make of normal steel, not some sort of exotic alloy...

 

[3 phase]

Wandering around the car park today revealed no similar problems here, BUT I did see 2 cars similar to yours markjay, one on British plates and one on Belgian

Could be a road salt issue, we are on the coast here and sometimes the wind can whip up some whicked sea spray onto the roads, but probably not as aggressive as the road gritting in winter over in UK.

But I agree that they should not become like that, imagine what would happen if the vehicle was unattended for sometime and the rust staining that would affect the wheels themselves.

 

[markjay]

It all makes sense, except...

In the past 15 years I have driven two Vauxhalls, one Ford, a Toyota, and a Renault.

I live in the same address, use the same car wash places, and my driving habits are about the same. So why oh why it is only the Merc's bolts that rust???

 

[GordonTarling]

The real issue here is cost-cutting. The EC has outlawed some of the toxic metals that used to be used to plate the bolts at reasonable cost and now cheaper inferiors are being used. Alternatives do exist, but they'e more expensive. FWIW, the wheel bolts on a Volvo V70 that I used to own rusted just as badly.

 

[peteroni]

Rusty wheel bolts

There are some cover available that seal the wheel bolt hole and give a round mirror finish. I found them on Amazon or EBay some years ago when I had a c200. Wheel bolt covers

 

[markjay]

After going through two sets of original MB bolts in four years, I finally changed the rustly MB bolts to new Febi bolts and so far so good - no rust.